1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods and systems for authorizing the providing of power to electric vehicles or other mobile devices, and collecting for the same.
2. Background Information
Electric cars, which by their nature necessarily travel between a variety of locations, may need to be recharged when away from their home.
Given the “roaming” nature of electric vehicles, and the resulting need for them to be charged while away from home, there is a need for a method and system for effectively and efficiently permitting someone—such as the passenger, owner or operator of the car (the payor)—to pay for the power provided. But because the payor may be traveling from home in the vehicle, he or she may not have an account with the local power provider, for example, at an office where it may be convenient to recharge the vehicle, or at a location on a trip out of town. (Although this applies to electric or hybrid cars, it also applies to any case where someone at a given location away from home wants to obtain power for a mobile device of any sort, but lacks an account with the power provider at that location.)
For example, when a car is not at home, the operator needs to use the local source of electricity to recharge, and it would be convenient if the power purchased could be billed to the operator's account with his home electric provider or other third party perhaps one specially set up for this purpose) rather than the electric utility at the location of the recharging.